Don't misunderstand

We are welcoming people to meet us at the airport. We are not sure how many people will be there, but several have expressed interest. I think even our personal photographer will be there, Steve Brady. We would like to see as many people as we possibly can and we want her to get to where she recognizes our church family and our friends. I am sure she will have many aunts, uncles, and grandparents in addition to the ones from her new "forever family." Please come if you can we would love to see you just make sure that our biological families can get to her first.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is not a train but a jet ready to go to China!

I told you when that I would post when I had more...I have more. We are officially going to leave Feb. 7 at 9 AM from the Asheville airport and will return to Asheville on Feb 17 at 3:25 PM. The excitement is really getting to be a little on the crazy side. You will probably find us to be really calm right now but that is probably all of the fatigue from the nearly 3 years of being in this madness. It will all be worth it sometime in the middle of this trip when we get to hold that little girl and begin to raise her from that point. Please, please, please pray for us on this long flight. I am not one to usually sit down for that long (nearly 13.5 hours from Detroit to Tokyo). We will be in the air a total of 19 hours and 19 minutes going over there. It is a little shorter coming home 17 hours and 21 minutes. We are not completely sure of the itinerary when we are there but should know something in the next couple of days concerning that. We do have a couple of travel days when we are there. Our trip is actually shorter than most adoption trips to China but I think our agency has all of this figured out. I do feel a little scatter-brained right now because there is a few things left to do and only 7 days to finish it all. I know it will all work out and that God is in control. We are going to spend some quality time at home with her before we bring her out in public but we would be happy to see anyone we can at the airport when we arrive. I hope that she will bond with us quickly and that we can bring her to the church for all to meet her officially before too much time is passes. This will probably be a hard transition for her since the only life she has known is inside that house in Nanchang with her caretaker(s). I am pretty sure that she will start to feel a part of us soon. I know her church family is very excited to meet her but I am not sure how she will take to that crazy place until we get her in the middle of a crowd at some point.

I do check this site and my e-mails everyday so please leave comment, questions, jokes, etc. and I hope to have some sort of response as soon as possible. Just think, in a little over a week you should be able to see lots of pictures and video coming to you from literally the other side of the world.

Return date change

We just found out today that the day we leave China is now one day earlier. We were told in an e-mail today that we will now be leaving on the 17th but we are still not sure when we will arrive back in Asheville. More to come once we find out. However, I guess more people will be able to be at the airport since the Sunday afternoon naps won't happen until the next day. I will post again or change this entry once we find out.

God Bless!

It is official!

We are going to leave for China on February 7 and we are leaving from Asheville. I guess they thought it would be nice for us to catch the superbowl before we left. So anyway, the longest flight out of all 6 planes we will be on is going to be a little over 13 hours, time enough to get in a good nap. We are starting to gear up for the final packing and collecting of things we need before we take off. We are really getting excited now. We are going to be gone until the 18th which just happens to be Chinese New Year so we might have to duck out of the way of the fireworks as we fly out. One interesting thing is that we are going to get to spend a little less than an hour in Japan going over and coming back. I wonder if they have any cheap electronics in the airport that I could get away with before we have to leave...we'll see. So I guess we will see everyone at the airport in Asheville with Kayli on the 18th at around 3:25 in the afternoon - or not since most everyone will be taking Sunday afternoon naps. I am planning on creating a video podcast to show Kayli in full motion video while we are there, hopefully in 5-10 minute segments. I will post instructions and links to the podcast once I get it started. I promise not to show what 18 hours in a plane looks like although it could be interesting on the 15 hours coming back home with a child. Keep sending in the comments and e-mails. I am going to send out a mass e-mail with a shortened version of this blog entry so please check your spam filters and setup your e-mail to accept my messages just in case you don't get it in your regular inbox. Please send me a message and let me know if you would like to be added to my huge e-mail list just in case I don't have your address or if you don't receive the e-mail.

We are approved to travel

We have finally have some information. We have been told that we have been approved to travel. The only question now is, when? Michelle did ask and she found out that it could be sometime in the first or second week of February. That does seem a little long to wait though. I have heard of people travelling a couple of days or a week after the approval. It is possible that we could still travel earlier, though. So stay tuned to this and many other strange adoption stories coming your way soon.

The lack of information is overwhelming

I know that some of you have been visiting almost daily for an update. Well, as I put in the subject line, "the lack of information is overwhelming." We are patiently waiting for our travel approval and to find out when we are going to go. I am afraid that we are going to get the approval and have to travel a few days later, because they will want us to get in and out before Chinese New Year, which is February 18. We can be ready to go fast enough it is just that we tend to forget things when we get in a rush. Our current prayer request is that we will find out soon (the wait won't be as long as it was to get the referral, thankfully) and that we will have enough time to get ready completely before we have to leave. Also please continue to pray for our little China doll as she is waiting for us (although she probably does not know it yet). This new year is holding a new view on life for us and we are excited and apprehensive at the same time. I hope all of you are doing well and we are looking forward to bringing her home for all of you to see her. Please make comments and let me know who all is out there looking at the blog and web page. I see the hits number growing in the stats I receive but I am not sure who is out there. Take care and God bless!

Eric